[neither_color]

add to that food calorie labels arent required to be 100% accurate, there's an acceptable range like +/- 20% iirc. That's enough to throw off a precise deficit. Calorie counting is more about directionally helping you lower your food consumption but it isnt as accurate as people think.

[zeta0134]

Honestly the main thing was learning that perfectly satisfying food I cook at home tends to land around 600-800 cal for a meal, where eating out almost anywhere is often twice that, even if my beverage is water. Just being aware how how heavy those otherwise delightful meals are gives me pause. Granted these figures are all a side effect of my personal eating habits and preferences, but that's rather the point of the exercise isn't it? There's a lot of individual variation, and the individual is probably best served by a personalized approach.

[devmor]

Eating out, especially in the US, is horrifying when you look at serving calories.

Why does every major restaurant feature individual meals with a caloric intake of an entire day’s energy?

[zeta0134]

If I'm smart, I can offset this by eating half of that meal in the restaurant and taking the rest in a to-go container. Two meals for the price of one, and reheating in the oven is almost as convenient.

Separately though, I have no idea why restaurants seem to exclusively offer gigantic portions over here. I wonder how common this is elsewhere in the world? I'm not well traveled so I genuinely have no idea.